Cal's Andrew Vaughn Wins Golden Spike Award

LOS ANGELES – One of the most prolific seasons in Cal baseball history has earned Andrew Vaughn a spot among the elite names ever to play the game on the amateur level as he has been named the Golden Spikes Award winner by USA Baseball and the Rod Dedeaux Foundation.

The award, which has been given to the nation's top amateur player annually since 1978, is considered one of the highest honors a college baseball player can earn. The announcement came as part of ESPN's SportsCenter telecast on Thursday afternoon with three of the four finalists – Vaughn, Texas infielder Kody Clemens and Auburn pitcher Casey Mize – in studio at ESPN Los Angeles. Florida pitcher Brady Singer was also a finalist but was not present.

Vaughn is the first Cal baseball player to earn the honor and is only the second to be named a finalist, joining Lance Blankenship (1984). He is the eighth Pac-12 player to bring home the award and joins a group that includes UCLA's Trevor Bauer (2011), Washington's Tim Lincecum (2006), USC's Mark Prior (2001), Arizona State's Mike Kelly (1991), Oddibe McDowell (1984) and Bob Horner (1978) and Arizona's Terry Francona (1980).

The announcement came live on SportsCenter at ESPN's Los Angeles studios. After being announced as the winner, Vaughn was joined on set by his parents, Toby and Diana, along with his sister, Madison, and Cal head coach Mike Neu.

From a statistical standpoint, the award is certainly deserved for the native of Santa Rosa, Calif. after he turned in one of the greatest single seasons in Cal baseball history.

A sophomore first baseman, Vaughn started all 54 games and hit .402, a mark that ranks third in Cal single-season history. His 23 home runs tied the single-season record set by Xavier Nady in 1999 and his slugging percentage of .819 is the best in school history.

He also drove in 63 runs, walked 44 times, got hit by a pitch 12 times and struck out only 18 times. His on-base percentage of .531 ranks fourth in the nation. Vaughn was also one of the conference's best defenders at his position, compiling a fielding percentage of .992 and earning a spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive team.

The announcement came as part of a two-day trip to Los Angeles for Vaughn, who has stayed busy since the end of the collegiate season. Beginning the summer as a member of the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod League, Vaughn left New England as the league leader in both home runs (5) and RBI (14) after 14 games played.

Before heading to Southern California, he moved down the East Coast to Cary, N.C. to begin his second stint with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. International play begins for Team USA on June 28 when Chinese Taipei visits for a five-game series. The team will also take on Japan and Cuba as play extends into mid-July.

Awesome achievement. And not bad for a guy rated #422 coming out of high school. The interesting way college baseball and the MLB draft system work could hurt Vaughn. His stock is sky high now and probably would have been a top 10 draft pick if he were eligible, but repeating a year like he had may be tough to pull off. On the bright side, it's great for Cal fans to see him play another year.

The AD and Cal Baseball really need to capitalize on this to get fans to the games.

Agreed. This is a future big leaguer that will be playing for Cal only one more year. But baseball has a tough time drawing casual fans these days without some other form of attraction, eg. the Giants have AT&T park. Maybe Cal needs sponsors for several giveaway days. The most obvious giveaway: Andrew Vaughn bobblehead.

The AD and Cal Baseball really need to capitalize on this to get fans to the games.

Agreed. This is a future big leaguer that will be playing for Cal only one more year. But baseball has a tough time drawing casual fans these days without some other form of attraction, eg. the Giants have AT&T park. Maybe Cal needs sponsors for several giveaway days. The most obvious giveaway: Andrew Vaughn bobblehead.

They do a pretty good job given the limitations (space, mostly). It would also help if the team could be good enough to give Vaughn a shot at CWS next year. But, they added lights a few years back to make the Friday games easier to make. After experimenting with a beer garden down the left field line and then the right field line, you can now grab a beer near the right field bullpen and take it anywhere in the park. They also have this fantastic taco stand on (I think) Sundays in the beer garden. They do some other food Saturday (maybe tacos again, but from a different place?).

They're going to need to put out a consistent winner. But, as in football, a look at average attendance across the nation does not paint a pretty picture for the Pac-12:[url=https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Board/105475/Contents/Baseball-Attendance-Report-2018-115660773][/url]Per this link (all numbers 2017): CONFERENCE AVERAGE 4,468 - SEC 2,535 - Big 12 2,218 - ACC 1,459 - AAC 974 - Pac 12 636 - Big Ten

The AD and Cal Baseball really need to capitalize on this to get fans to the games.

Agreed. This is a future big leaguer that will be playing for Cal only one more year. But baseball has a tough time drawing casual fans these days without some other form of attraction, eg. the Giants have AT&T park. Maybe Cal needs sponsors for several giveaway days. The most obvious giveaway: Andrew Vaughn bobblehead.

They do a pretty good job given the limitations (space, mostly). It would also help if the team could be good enough to give Vaughn a shot at CWS next year. But, they added lights a few years back to make the Friday games easier to make. After experimenting with a beer garden down the left field line and then the right field line, you can now grab a beer near the right field bullpen and take it anywhere in the park. They also have this fantastic taco stand on (I think) Sundays in the beer garden. They do some other food Saturday (maybe tacos again, but from a different place?).

They're going to need to put out a consistent winner. But, as in football, a look at average attendance across the nation does not paint a pretty picture for the Pac-12:[url=https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Board/105475/Contents/Baseball-Attendance-Report-2018-115660773][/url]Per this link (all numbers 2017): CONFERENCE AVERAGE 4,468 - SEC 2,535 - Big 12 2,218 - ACC 1,459 - AAC 974 - Pac 12 636 - Big Ten

The AD and Cal Baseball really need to capitalize on this to get fans to the games.

Agreed. This is a future big leaguer that will be playing for Cal only one more year. But baseball has a tough time drawing casual fans these days without some other form of attraction, eg. the Giants have AT&T park. Maybe Cal needs sponsors for several giveaway days. The most obvious giveaway: Andrew Vaughn bobblehead.

They do a pretty good job given the limitations (space, mostly). It would also help if the team could be good enough to give Vaughn a shot at CWS next year. But, they added lights a few years back to make the Friday games easier to make. After experimenting with a beer garden down the left field line and then the right field line, you can now grab a beer near the right field bullpen and take it anywhere in the park. They also have this fantastic taco stand on (I think) Sundays in the beer garden. They do some other food Saturday (maybe tacos again, but from a different place?).

They're going to need to put out a consistent winner. But, as in football, a look at average attendance across the nation does not paint a pretty picture for the Pac-12:[url=https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Board/105475/Contents/Baseball-Attendance-Report-2018-115660773][/url]Per this link (all numbers 2017): CONFERENCE AVERAGE 4,468 - SEC 2,535 - Big 12 2,218 - ACC 1,459 - AAC 974 - Pac 12 636 - Big Ten

Uh, a rather large omission, don't you think? Because I felt bad passing along incomplete info, I totaled all of Oregon State's reported attendance for this year (as opposed to that list, which was 2017).

Oregon State averaged 3,594 fans per game. That was only slightly buoyed by 5 home tournament games. Those games averaged 3,963 fans. Non-tourney games averaged 3,523 fans.

The AD and Cal Baseball really need to capitalize on this to get fans to the games.

Agreed. This is a future big leaguer that will be playing for Cal only one more year. But baseball has a tough time drawing casual fans these days without some other form of attraction, eg. the Giants have AT&T park. Maybe Cal needs sponsors for several giveaway days. The most obvious giveaway: Andrew Vaughn bobblehead.

They do a pretty good job given the limitations (space, mostly). It would also help if the team could be good enough to give Vaughn a shot at CWS next year. But, they added lights a few years back to make the Friday games easier to make. After experimenting with a beer garden down the left field line and then the right field line, you can now grab a beer near the right field bullpen and take it anywhere in the park. They also have this fantastic taco stand on (I think) Sundays in the beer garden. They do some other food Saturday (maybe tacos again, but from a different place?).

They're going to need to put out a consistent winner. But, as in football, a look at average attendance across the nation does not paint a pretty picture for the Pac-12:[url=https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Board/105475/Contents/Baseball-Attendance-Report-2018-115660773][/url]Per this link (all numbers 2017): CONFERENCE AVERAGE 4,468 - SEC 2,535 - Big 12 2,218 - ACC 1,459 - AAC 974 - Pac 12 636 - Big Ten